ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman on Wednesday told the Senate Standing Committee on Education, Science and Technology that governors powers to appoint VCs had not been withdrawn.

He gave a detailed presentation on the issue to the committee’s meeting chaired by Senator Mrs Razina Alam Khan.

However, the process of appointing the Vice Chancellors was modified by the Chancellors themselves in the second Chancellors’ Committee meeting Chaired by the President on May 11.

He said the matter was mis-reported in the press that the HEC has been empowered to constitute search committee of scholars to suggest a panel to the Chancellor and to enable the Chancellors to nominate or reject the nominee as Vice Chancellors for the universities.

He clarified that HEC has nothing to do with the appointment of Search Committee and the Chancellors are free to appoint Vice Chancellors according to the procedure.

He said the formation of Search Committee is a procedure which the Chancellors have adopted to select the most competent among the panel.

Replying to various queries from the movers and the members of the committee, he said modification in the process of the selection of vice chancellors was aimed at ensuring impartial and competitive selection of the most appropriate professional as vice chancellor who could provide the vision and leadership required to transform universities as internationally recognized institutions for higher education, research and technology.

The movers Senators Mian Raza Rabbani, Ms Sadia Abbasi and Raza Muhammad Raza gave their point of view on the issue and said the procedure adopted would undermine the provincial autonomy and underlined the need for carrying out necessary legislation making it obligatory on the chancellors to appoint vice-chancellors in line with the procedure.

The chairperson of the committee said the procedure adopted by the chancellors was aimed at making it convenient to select the best possible person for the post of vice-chancellor and that it was not binding for the chancellors/governors.—APP